xvEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA/600/K-92/007
September 1992
Solicitation for
Research Grant
Proposal -1993
Exploratory
Research Grants
Background
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
through its Office of Exploratory Research (OER) is
seeking grant applications to conduct exploratory en-
vironmental research in biology, chemistry, physics,
engineering, or socioeconomics. investigations are
sought in these research disciplines which focus on
any aspect of pollution identification, characterization,
abatement or control, or address the effects of pollut-
ants on the environment. In addition, research is sought
on environmental policy and its social and economic
consequences.
This solicitation only concerns the research grants
administered by EPA's Office of Exploratory Research
and outlines procedures for receiving grant assistance
from that office.
In addition to this general annual solicitation, appli-
cations are sought periodically through more narrowly
defined proposal requests, referred to as Requests for
Applications (RFA). While this document does not
contain any RFA solicitations, it does provide an an-
nouncement of tentative RFA titles and approximate
issue dates for each proposed RFA.
The main purpose of OER's Research Grants Pro-
gram is to support advanced research in the environ-
mental sciences, engineering, and economics at U.S.
academic institutions. The principal products sought
are high quality scientific and technical articles in
refereed technical journals.
The Application
Application forms, instructions, and other pertinent
information for assistance programs are available in
the EPA Research Grants Application/Information Kit.
Interested investigators should review the materials in
this kit before preparing an application for assistance.
The kits are available from:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Grants Operations Branch (PM-216F)
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 260-9266
Application kits may also be obtained by calling the
OER info-line (202) 260-7474 and leaving mailing
instructions.
Each application will consist of the APPLICATION
FOR FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FORM (Standard
Forms 424 and 424A [SF-424 and -424A]) and sepa-
rate sheets providing the budget breakdown for each
year of the project, resumes for the principal investiga-
tor and co-workers, an abstract of the proposed project,
arid a project narrative. All certification forms (drug-
free workplace, etc.) must be signed and included with
the application.
Special Instructions
Proposed projects must be investigative research
which advances the state of knowledge in the environ-
mental sciences and technology. Proposals will not be
accepted that are routine monitoring, state-of-the-art
or market surveys, literature reviews, development or
commercialization of proven concepts, or the prepara-
tion of materials and documents, including process
designs or instruction manuals.
Applications containing proprietary or other types of
confidential information will be immediately returned
to the applicant without review.
The following special instructions apply to all appli-
cants responding to this solicitation:
Printed on Recycled Paper
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° Applications must be identified by printing "OER-
93" in the upper right hand comer or block 10 of
SF-424. The absence of this identifier from an
application may lead to delayed processing or
misassignment of the application.
° A one-page abstract must be included with the
application.
° The project narrative section of the application
must not exceed twenty-five 8 1/2 X 11-inch,
consecutively numbered pages of standard type
(10-12 characters per inch), including tables,
graphs, and figures. For purposes of this limita-
tion, the "project narrative section" of the applica-
tion consist^ of the following items in the
Application/Information Kit:
(1) Description of Project
(2) Objectives
(3) Results or Benefits Expected
(4) Approach
(5) General Project Information
(6) Quality Assurance (If needed)
Attachments, appendices, and reference lists for
the narrative section may be included but are within
the 25-page limitation.
Items not included under the 25-page limitation are
the SF-424 and other forms, budgets, resumes, and
the abstract.
Resumes must not exceed two consecutively num-
bered pages for each principal investigator and should
focus on education, positions held, and most recent or
related publications.
Itemized budgets, including budget justifications,
must not exceed five consecutively numbered pages
(excluding budget information on SF-424.)
Applications not meeting these requirements will
not be forwarded to reviewers without corrections.
Applicants will be notified of deficiencies, and requisite
changes will be requested.
To be considered, the original and eight copies of
the application must be received by EPA's Grants
Operation Branch no later than close of business on
the closing date. Fully developed research grant appli-
cations, prepared in accordance with instructions in
SF-424, should be sent to the Grants Operation Branch.
Informal, incomplete, or unsigned proposals will not
be considered. The application must be sent to:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Grants Operations Branch (PM-216F)
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
For overnight express mail, the address is:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Grants Operation Branch
Fairchild Building, Room 801
499 South Capitol Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 260-9266
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The typical grant issued by OER is for a total cost of
approximately $100,000 per year for two or three
years. Funding levels range from a minimum of about
$40,000 to approximately $150,000 per year. All bud-
get costs and justifications, particularly requests for
equipment, will be carefully reviewed. The maximum
project period is three years; shorter periods are en-
couraged, as are funding requests substantially lower
than $150,000 per year. Subcontracts for research to
be conducted under the grant should not exceed
approximately 40% of the total direct cost of the grant
for each year in which the subcontract is awarded.
The following eligibility requirements apply to both
the general solicitation and targeted announcements
(RFAs).
Academic and nonprofit institutions located in the
U.S., and state or local governments are eligible under
ajl existing authorizations. Profit-making firms are eli-
gible only under certain laws, and then under restric-
tive conditions, including the absence of any profit
from the project.
Potential applicants who are uncertain of their eligi-
bility should study the restrictive language of the law
governing the area of research interest or contact
EPA's Grants Operations Branch at (202) 260-9266.
Federal agencies and federal employees are not
eligible to participate in this program.
All grant applications are initially reviewed by the
Agency to determine their legal and administrative
acceptability.
Acceptable applications are then reviewed by an
appropriate peer review panel. This review is de-
signed to evaluate and rank each proposal according
to its scientific merit and utility as a basis for recom-
mending Agency approval or disapproval. Each peer
review panel is composed primarily of non-EPA scien-
tists, engineers, and economists who are experts in
their respective disciplines.
The panels use the following criteria in their re-
views:
° Quality of the research plan (including theoretical
and/or experimental design, originality, and cre-
ativity)
° Qualifications of the principal investigator and staff
including knowledge of relevant subject areas
° Utility of the research including potential contribu-
tion to scientific knowledge in the environmental
area
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• Availability and adequacy of facilities and equip-
ment
Budgetary justification—in particular justification
and cost requests for equipment will be carefully
reviewed
A summary statement of the scientific review and
recommendation of the panel is provided to each
applicant.
Grants are selected by EPA on the basis of techni-
cal merit, program balance, and budget.
Funding Mechanism
For all general and targeted grants, the funding
mechanism will consist of a grant agreement between
EPA and the recipient.
Federal grant regulation 40 CFR 30.307 requires
that all recipients provide a minimum of 5% of the total
project cost, which may not be taken from federal
sources. OER will not support a request for a deviation
from this requirement for any grant supported by its
Research Grants Program.
Contacts
Applicants may call (202) 260-7474. Applicants with
additional questions may contact the appropriate indi-
viduals identified in Table I. Their address is:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Exploratory Research (RD-675)
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Table I: Contacts for the General Solicitation
Discipline
Biology
Chem/Physics of Air
Chem/Physics of
Water/Soil
Engineering
Sodoeconomic
Contact
Clyde Bishop
Deran Pashayan
Louis Swaby
Louis Swaby
Robert Papetti
Phone Number
(Prefix 202)
260-5727
260-2606
260-7453
260-7453
260-7473
Minority Institution Assistance
Preapplication assistance is available upon request!
from potential investigators representing institutions
identified by the Secretary, Department of Education,
as Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs)
or the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universi-
ties (HACUs).
The application form SF-424, instructions, subject
areas, and review procedures are the same as those
for the general grants program.
For further information, contact
Virginia Broadway
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(RD-675)
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 260-7664
Targeted Grants
The Office of Exploratory Research addresses spe-
cific research topics which appear to merit extra em-
phasis or special attention by issuing a separate RFA
for each such topic. The RFA is a mechanism by
which a formal announcement is released describing
a high priority initiative in well defined scientific areas.
Applicants are invited to submit research applica-
tions in response to an RFA (for a limited number of
grants) using the Standard Application for Federal
Assistance Form SF-424 and other forms described in
the Grant Application Kit. One copy of the application
with original signatures plus eight copies should be
mailed directly to the Grants Operations Branch.
The deadline for receipt of applications is identified
in the RFA announcement.
As in the case of the general grants program, an
application for a targeted grant (RFA) is only consid-
ered when a fully developed proposal is submitted.
Special guidelines and limitations tailored to each
RFA will be published in the individual RFA announce-
ments.
Unless otherwise identified in individual RFAs, pro-
cedures, guidelines, and limitations are the same for
grants issued under the general and targeted grants
programs.
OER does not expect to issue any new RFAs for
Fiscal Year 1993. Superfund grants, which in the past
have been awarded via the RFA mechanism, will be
awarded under this general solicitation to successful
applications which focus on the identification,
remediation, and monitoring of Superfund sites.
Interested readers are reminded that an RFA in
health, entitled "Biomarkers of Toxic Pollutants in Hu-
man Health—HLT-01-92" was issued in January 1992
and has a second closing date of October 15,1992. A
copy of this announcement can be obtained by calling
(202) 260-7445, or from the December 13, 1991,
issue of the Federal Register (pages 65059-65060).
Questions concerning the RFA should be addressed
to Clyde Bishop at (202) 260-5727.
Applications in the environmental health program
are solicited by RFA only. Applications not responding
to a specific RFA in the environmental health area will
be returned to the applicant without further consider-
ation.
•U.S. Government Printing Office: 1992 — 648-080/60048
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